Every minute that does not have LeBron James re-signing with Miami is a minute more for people to speculate about where he might end up. And since James himself doesn’t seem inclined to clue us all in on his thought process, we are left to read the tea leaves. Or the flight-tracking data, in this case.
On Sunday afternoon, Cleveland sports radio personality Joe Lull sent out this tweet:
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert is currently en route to south Florida.
— Joe Lull (@LullOnSports) July 6, 2014
Whoa! Could the owner of the Cavs be attempting to retrieve a certain someone’s talents from South Beach? This tweet attracted a fair amount of attention, not least from Mr. Gilbert himself, who had this to say:
“. @LullOnSports:Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is currently en route to south Florida.” I am? Sorry folks but enjoying weather in my backyard today — Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) July 6, 2014
Oh, well, nothing to see here, then. Except that some Cavs fans sleuthed around and discovered an interesting flight plan for a plane linked to Gilbert:
@NOTSCCleveland Here’s the info to verify.. Slan llc is corp. linked to Rock ventures in which Gilbert is a partner.. pic.twitter.com/dhJzrnJqWt
— Jack (@Tennis_Source) July 6, 2014
Then came this update from Miami-based Associated Press reporter Tim Reynolds:
Dan Gilbert has a plane. It’s here. pic.twitter.com/G7WUeUcV87 — Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) July 6, 2014
That was followed by this tweet from Anthony Lima, who works at the same radio station as Lull:
Been working on this for two hours but can now confirm from second source that LBJ’s friend and former Cav Zydrunas Ilgauskas was on plane
— Anthony Lima (@AnthonyLimaFAN) July 7, 2014
Of course, this could all be much ado about nothing. However, it is at least interesting that, at a time when James is a free agent, the Cavs owner finds a reason to send Ilgauskas to LeBron’s neck of the woods. James and Ilgauskas, former Cavs teammates, are so close that, earlier this year, James made a special trip to Cleveland to be on hand for Ilgauskas’s jersey retirement ceremony.
LeBron James returning to Cleveland would be a huge story, but for now, we’ll have to settle for chasing down anything that could possibly go some way toward substantiating a rumor.
(H/T Factory of Sadness)